Dave Insley and the Careless Smokers

January 28; Frederick's Music Lounge, (4544 Chippewa Street)

Details

Show starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $7; call 314
-351-5711 for more information

Fans of real country must get tired of these color-by-numbers outlaw bands, guys who put on tattered flannel and thrift-store boots and sing exclusively about Pabst Blue Ribbon and Ten High Whiskey. But the poseurs can cower behind their Ray-Bans as Dave Insley shows 'em how it's done. Insley's baritone voice and speak-sing delivery are supported by barroom piano, searing fiddle and melt-your-brain pedal steel. His prowess can be found on last year's Call Me Lonesome, but the stuff sounds better coming from a cramped stage and  faux-country charlatans be damned  with a shot of Ten High chased by a PBR.